Okay, my son is 13 months old, and we have done very part-time EC since he was 6 wks. By that, I mean, we offer at diaper changes, after naps and waking in the morning, if I think he's going to poo, and maybe a few other random times. He usually pees on the potty when we offer, and has done the vast majority of poos on the potty since he was 8 (ish?) months old.

The last month or two I've noticed he looks at me when he needs to poo; which is nice, because before that it was just me noticing his body language, etc, and this makes it seem like he's noticing, too. This week he's told me twice when we were out that he needed to poo (by saying "please?" and then making a raspberry noise), and waited until we got to the bathroom and undressed/on the potty, and then pooed :lostit:. I am ridiculously excited about this new development!

He has 3 pairs of gerber training underwear that I will occasionally put him in (if they're clean, etc), and he seems to notice more if he pees in them than he does when he pees in the diaper. He'll say "Done!" or fuss and try to get me to pick him up if he trainers are wet. He sometimes does this in a diaper, but not nearly as often. So I bought some more (they're on their way now). I thought that I might put him in the training pants for a certain amount of time each day, and really focus on his signals and trying to offer the potty more often during that time. I thought maybe this would help him get a better awareness of needing to pee, like he seems to be doing with poo.

But then, today, I was worrying, will this confuse him? I mean, I don't know if I want to commit to full-time underwear right now (I'm worried about the time investment involved with trying to keep them dry). So, do you think it would be confusing to him to be in underwear part of the day, and be run to the potty at more frequent intervals, and then be back in diapers for the rest of the day? Right now, it seems like he notices a difference between underwear and diapers, and I don't want to inadvertently teach him that they're the same, or that he doesn't need to signal when he's in a diaper, or something. :headscratch:

Advice/Opinions Welcome!

Mom2jandb

10-12-2012 11:48 PM

You can just tell him they aren't diapers. He's old enough to understand you. I'm betting he won't get confused :)

shen7

10-13-2012 09:49 AM

You know your kid best. I don't think my 16 month old would get it. She gets very busy playing and just doesn't notice until she has already gone. I know because she often has big misses when we do naked time, and I am watching her, but she just doesn't signal. Some days her mood is different and she wants to potty, but lately she has had teeth coming in and it is not on the radar. She is just not ready for undies yet, but every kid is different. I am thinking it might be better to try after her canines are all emerged.

What diapers do you use? We avoid stay dry and I think it helps with bodily awareness...

Mom2jandb

10-13-2012 10:43 AM

I should have specified, I think he will not confuse underwear with diapers if you tell him about underwear. That doesn't mean he won't have an accident sometimes.

sweetpeapumpkinbaby

10-15-2012 02:44 PM

Re: Will part-time underwear be confusing?

Quote:

Originally Posted by shen7
(Post 15806177)

You know your kid best. I don't think my 16 month old would get it. She gets very busy playing and just doesn't notice until she has already gone. I know because she often has big misses when we do naked time, and I am watching her, but she just doesn't signal. Some days her mood is different and she wants to potty, but lately she has had teeth coming in and it is not on the radar. She is just not ready for undies yet, but every kid is different. I am thinking it might be better to try after her canines are all emerged.

What diapers do you use? We avoid stay dry and I think it helps with bodily awareness...

We use prefolds the vast majority of the time. We have 4 BG 4.0s for standing changes when out in public. The only stay-dry at home is a flip staydry insert on top of a prefold at night. Well, Ill try the undies, and see how it goes.

porcelina

10-18-2012 10:45 AM

Re: Will part-time underwear be confusing?

We did part-time EC for ours too. He self-trained for poo at about age 6 weeks (had maybe 12 poopy diapers from 6 weeks to 16 months or so). I had him in cloth diapers during the day for pee until 22 months. Then, we just switched to underwear. Now he is 24 months. He STILL has a lot of accidents, especially in the mornings (not sure why, he seems to hold it better in the afternoon). If we forget or if he gets off his pee schedule, then we have surprises.

So, even if he "gets" that he's in underwear, he still may not tell you when it's time to go, especially as he gets older (strangely, my LO told us when he was younger, but has since stopped). Why bother with underwear anyway until you are ready to take the plunge to full time underwear? You can still rush to the bathroom, offer frequently for pee, etc., with trainers, right? And, if he really likes the underwear, he might start refusing the trainer, which might require you to take the plunge to FT underwear before you are ready.

On the other hand, I definitely don't think it would hurt! Just do what is easiest for you, he will eventually get it.

sweetpeapumpkinbaby

11-15-2012 08:43 PM

Re: Will part-time underwear be confusing?

Update:
LO is 14.5 months old now. For the last few weeks he's been telling me "pee poo". Sometimes this means he has JUST wet. Increasingly, though, it means that he needs to go, and is still dry! In the last week, he's been able to stay dry for up to 4 hours (with several trips to the potty). He wakes up dry in the morning, sometimes, too. I've been letting him wear underwear now and then, but he's mostly doing this while wearing prefolds. I think that his language development has really helped, now that he can verbally tell me when he needs to go. He's definately not potty trained, yet, of course, but I'm so pleased by how this is going!

Mom2jandb

11-15-2012 10:37 PM

That's great!

sweetpeapumpkinbaby

11-19-2012 09:39 AM

Re: Will part-time underwear be confusing?

Another little update: I got tired of taking a diaper off and on a hundred times a day, so 3 day ago we switched to underwear during the day (including naps and out of the house).

He's had about 5 or 6 wet accidents per day so far (some of which are on the way to the potty). The accidents are almost exclusively in the late afternoon/evening. I think he gets tired/distracted by then. He initiates virtually all trips to the potty. I've tried to take him a few times because *I* thought he needed to go, and almost always, he gets upset with me and won't do anything. I've decided to try to just let Mr. Independent tell me when he needs to go. :giggle2:

Although the number of accidents has been the same each day, the length of time he stays dry is getting longer. Yesterday he stayed dry, in the same pair of undies, from 6:30 to 3:30. That included church, and a nap. He seems to do better outside the house. I've been putting him in a diaper for night time, but he's been dry when he got up for the last 4 mornings straight.